Optimists die first by Susin Nielsen

Review copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a honest review, thank you!

“To all the other crazy cat people. You know who you are”

Synopsis

Beware: Life ahead.

Sixteen-year-old Petula de Wilde is anything but wild. A former crafting fiend with a happy life, Petula shut herself off from the world after a family tragedy. She sees danger in all the ordinary things, like crossing the street, a bug bite, or a germy handshake. She knows: life is out to get you.

The worst part of her week is her comically lame mandatory art therapy class with a small group of fellow misfits. Then a new boy, Jacob, appears at school and in her therapy group. He seems so normal and confident, though he has a prosthetic arm; and soon he teams up with Petula on a hilarious project, gradually inspiring her to let go of some of her fears. But as the two grow closer, a hidden truth behind why he’s in the group could derail them, unless Petula takes a huge risk

What I think of it

Optimists die first tells the story of Petula, a 16 year old girl with severe anxiety and OCD behaviour since the death of her sister.

This is a very intense and quite dark book. Petula worries about absolutely everything and always thinks about the worst case scenarios. I do the same all the time which is why I could relate to the character so much.

I absolutely adored the character, not only because I could relate to her but also because of… Cats. There are cats everywhere in this book and this is one of the reasons I couldn’t get enough of it. (There are also cat videos!! A book that discuss cat videos can’t be anything else than great)

I can guarantee you that the plot is mind blowing and you’ll need a couple days to get over this book..

This book is perfect for you if you loved We are all made of molecules (Which is actually from the same author!) and Kids of appetite